Pubdate: Tue, 08 Jan 2008
Source: Capital Times, The (WI)
Copyright: 2008 The Capital Times
Contact: http://www.madison.com/tct/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73
Author: Gary Storck
DREYFUS SUPPORTED MEDICAL MARIJUANA; TODAY'S POLS SHOULD TOO
Dear Editor: I was sorry to read of the passing of former Wisconsin
Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus. Dreyfus signed Wisconsin's first medical
marijuana bill into law on April 19, 1982.
As a glaucoma patient fighting each day to save my precious
eyesight, I had been using cannabis for 10 years and had lobbied for
the bill. The Therapeutic Cannabis Research Act passed both houses
easily. Similar legislation was passed in more than two-thirds of U.S. states.
Unfortunately, these bills were written with the expectation that
the federal government would supply the program's medical marijuana.
With federal authorities unwilling to supply marijuana to sick
and dying U.S. citizens, the law became symbolic.
While Dreyfus remained a supporter of medical marijuana in his later
years, many of the Republican legislators who followed him in state
government have blocked medical marijuana legislation.
This session, the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act is awaiting
action in the Assembly's Health and Healthcare Reform Committee.
Chair Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, a nurse, has stated that the bill
will not receive a hearing. If the bill does not receive a hearing
soon, it will die in committee like previous attempts dating back
more than a decade.
Polling has established that popular support for medical marijuana
exceeds 80 percent in Wisconsin. As an advocate for medical
cannabis, I constantly receive calls from patients and family
members who indicate there is a crisis in pain management in our
state. I know the good folks who call me represent only the tip of
the iceberg.
Memo to the GOP leadership: The sick and dying are not your enemy. I
get calls from Republicans too. Let's get this done, this session,
in honor of the memory of not only a man ahead of his time, Gov. Lee
Sherman Dreyfus, but also the thousands of Wisconsinites who died in
pain. Please make passage of the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act
a true priority when the Legislature reconvenes Jan. 15!
Gary Storck, Is My Medicine Legal YET?, Madison
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom